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Author Topic: Hohner 2915 Wooden Grill Age, Resto, General Greenhorn Info  (Read 1067 times)

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Cody Meyocks

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Hohner 2915 Wooden Grill Age, Resto, General Greenhorn Info
« on: August 09, 2019, 12:23:21 AM »

Hey all! Brand new to the forum and the melodeon in general, this this post will likely cover much-tread ground and could fit under multiple forum headers—forgive me if I am not the ideal poster!

On a total whim the other day I picked up my first accordion of any kind—a 2 row Pokerwork in the key of F/Bb (I was thrilled to find this out since I didn’t know the key at purchase, and these are ideal keys for my voice although traditional musicians will no doubt frown at me). It’s a goldbrand with bell flower pattern in fairly good shape for its age. I’m curious about its likely date, and I imagine the fact that the grill is wooden rather than metal might be enough to date it. The board is stepped, horned, and wooden, and the bass keys are staggered. The key signature on the side of the keyboard was originally CF but was struck thru and FB stamped both above and below it. There’s a metal plate indicating Steel Reeds.  If this all tells you anything about the age I’d be happy to know it.

The bellows are in fairly good shape, with very minor leakage. A couple notes are out of tune—the highest pitch on the bottom row of the board, and the chord closest to chin on the bass side is sometimes rattled and flat. I’d like to access the reed blocks to see if a simple cleaning could improve the tuning issues since removing the back cover of the keyboard revealed decades of dust which may have worked its way into the reeds. Do you need to remove the bellows to do this? Any at home restoration resources are appreciated!

Finally I managed to track down a keyboard chart for this key with the accidentals (I believe this is what’s called Vienna tuning?) but it would be a great help to me if there were a diagram showing the tuning in Nashville numbers rather than normal notes. Does this exist anywhere?

Lastly, I’m a musician who focuses on American folk traditions especially of the Western states. I’d love any resources that could guide me into traditional use of the DBA as a folk instrument in America.

I apologize if this is an achingly generic first post and I thank you all in advance for your help, patience, and understanding! I feel honored to have stumbled into this exciting world on a whim and I look forward to hearing your feedback!
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Theo

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Re: Hohner 2915 Wooden Grill Age, Resto, General Greenhorn Info
« Reply #1 on: August 09, 2019, 08:29:01 AM »

If you cold post a photo that would help in dating and identify the model.  From your description my gues is it was made in the late 30s or early 30s.  Dating old Hohners is a bit uncertain at the best of times,  so it’s highly unlikely that it could be dated to a year. One feature that could narrow it down is the type of mechanism. In 1929/30 Hohner introduced an all steel mechanism,  before that it was a combination of wood and metal.  The earlier type can be recognised easily from the buttons which each have a central screw.  Later buttons are plain.
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Theo Gibb - Gateshead UK

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Tone Dumb Greg

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Re: Hohner 2915 Wooden Grill Age, Resto, General Greenhorn Info
« Reply #2 on: August 09, 2019, 10:53:34 AM »

... Any at home restoration resources are appreciated!
Hello Cody and welcome.

Lester Bailey's videos are the go to resource for me. The videos on Hot Rodding your Hohner show how to access the working parts and do loads of jobs on Hohner type instruments. This is a link to the first of the series. Hopefully your instrument may be similar to the one in the video. Similar enough for them to be helpful, anyway.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wMMSY_xtQ0g

Quote
... it would be a great help to me if there were a diagram showing the tuning in Nashville numbers rather than normal notes. Does this exist anywhere?


Not sure what you mean. I thought the Nashville numbering thing was a way of describing chord relationships.
« Last Edit: August 09, 2019, 10:55:48 AM by Tone Dumb Greg »
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Greg Smith
DG/GC Pokerwork, DG 2.4 Saltarelle, pre-war CF Hohner, Hohner 1040 Vienna style, old  BbEb Hohner that needs a lot of work.

ACCORDION, n. An instrument in harmony with the sentiments of an assassin. Ambrose Bierce

Scotty Gring

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Re: Hohner 2915 Wooden Grill Age, Resto, General Greenhorn Info
« Reply #3 on: September 05, 2019, 02:49:30 AM »

I'm curious about the Nashville Numbers idea.  If you have a two row, you have two keys - thus your Nashville Numbers won't show your common notes (push/pull).  Maybe I'm stuck in a paradigm here, but to me if you go that route you have your lower row in F - assuming 3rd button start you have Nashville 1 with the 3rd button on the push, 2 on the pull, 3 on button 4 on the push, 5 same button on the pull, and so on.  Same thing with 2nd row, though your 1 on button 3 is now key of F.  If you study by key names you will see where you can alternate the same notes by push or pull.  I think I know what I'm saying but I have a hell of a way to explain it.  If you think that works for you, though - there are keyboard layouts with notes linked here: 

http://forum.melodeon.net/index.php/page,keyboard_2_row.html

I hope I haven't added more confusion.
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Hohner 1040C, 2815G/C (pre-Pokerwork), Hohner A/D 21/12 Italienne. Titano Titan Piano Accordion (with apologies).

folkloristmark

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Re: Hohner 2915 Wooden Grill Age, Resto, General Greenhorn Info
« Reply #4 on: September 05, 2019, 11:25:08 AM »

Lesters videos are all you will need. The rattle bass may well be missing or bet bass valves Leathers.Just be carefull if the wax is old or cracked as they may have to delve a bit deeper.Remove the four pins and the end comes off.
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Mark Taylor
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